Chinese carmaker BYD aiming to zoom past Toyota
- Source: Gasgoo.com
- [16:51 December 08 2010]
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BYD was founded in 1995 and only branched into automaking in recent years. But it has won backing from billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whose MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., the utility division of his Omaha, Neb.-based flagship Berkshire Hathaway, has a 9.9 percent stake in the Hong Kong-traded company.
BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, recently announced it has approval to get its shares listed in the southern city of Shenzhen, where the company is based.
In January-August it sold 246,881 cars, just ahead of rival domestic automaker Chery Automobile Co, which reported sales totaling 240,275 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Its most popular car, the F3 sedan has been China's top selling model for three months so far this year.
But General Motors Corp. led sales in China in the first half of the year at 814,442 units, followed by Volkswagen AG, with 652,436 vehicles sold.
Toyota, which displaced GM as the world's biggest automaker in 2008, sold nearly 9 million cars and trucks in 2008, while GM sold 8.4 million.
BYD expects to sell 400,000 cars this year and to manage annual sales exceeding 10 million by 2025, Wang, the deputy general manager, told the China Daily.
Company chairman Wang Chuanfu has said he plans to begin selling an all-electric vehicle in the United States by next year.
